Sam Tomkins of England came in for some tough treatment on and off the pitch against the Exiles. Photograph: Ed Sykes/Action Images

1) Reality bites

We've known for years that the best rugby league players in the world come from the southern hemisphere. But England's defeat by the Exiles on Friday evening should still act as a wake-up call. The England players were admirably brave and the manner of their defeat was cruel, with less than a minute remaining on the clock when Wigan's Samoan centre George Carmont scored the match-winning try. But any honest analysis of the game would conclude that the Exiles were the better team, and had Joel Tomkins' spectacular but highly dubious 90-metre interception try proved decisive, England's victory would have been hollow.

The home coach Steve McNamara conceded as much. "Would it have made a difference if we'd hung on for a victory?" he asked afterwards. "It would have been the same performance."

There were plausible explanations for England's failure to offer much attacking threat. They were missing McNamara's likely first-choice half-back combination for the Four Nations series at the end of this season, with Danny Brough injured and Gareth Widdop not released by Melbourne. James Roby's damaged eye socket forced the coach to start with Luke Robinson at hooker rather than introducing him from the interchange bench, and Sam Burgess and Gareth Ellis would also have strengthened the pack.

But that merely highlights the shallowness of the pool of talent, especially on the back of a defeat by an Exiles team who included only one player deemed worthy of selection by Australia or New Zealand for last autumn's Four Nations series – Wigan's Thomas Leuluai.

That is taking nothing away from the quality of their performance. Brian McClennan turned out to be an inspired appointment as coach of this collection of Aussies, Kiwis and Pacific islanders, with a Sunday night session over the cava bowl helping to replicate the spirit he generated in New Zealand teams of the past. The way they all celebrated Carmont's winner confirmed that the Exiles concept has already taken root, and the chance to spend a week in camp and wear the black, white, green and gold shirt promises to become a goal of all the overseas players who come to the Super League.

The fixture has also delivered far greater value to England than the comfortable wins they have enjoyed against France in each of the last four summers.

But the answer to the big question, of where this defeat leaves England, depends on your view of McNamara's contention that the original Exiles were "an international standard team" who "would probably test any team from Australia and New Zealand". Realistic, or dangerously delusional? We'll find out when Benji Marshall, Johnathan Thurston and Co arrive for the Four Nations in October.

2) Bouncebackability

A new cliché has entered the British rugby league phrasebook this year, with many of us keen to repeat over the weekend the words of the Exiles captain and State of Origin veteran Danny Buderus, that players only prove themselves worthy of Origin status when they have endured the masochistic rite of passage of dragging their bodies through two games in 48 hours.

The England players were happy to rise to that challenge, with 16 of them playing for their clubs in Super League fixtures on Sunday, and a fair few earning rave reviews. By all accounts Kevin Sinfield played a key role for Leeds as they sailed through a potentially tricky test against Hull KR, and Warrington's coach Tony Smith singled out Ben Westwood – one of England's best against the Exiles – for another excellent performance even as the Wolves suffered a surprise home defeat by Salford. At Odsal, Jon Wilkin was simply outstanding for St Helens, following the 40 tackles he made in an 80-minute effort against the Exiles with another 72 minutes of graft and craft before Royce Simmons finally gave him a breather.

Wilkin seems to have gone to a new level this season, relishing the extra responsibility as one of the senior players maintaining the Saints legacy after the retirement of Keiron Cunningham. He can't be far behind the remarkable Roby in the running for Man of Steel.

3) Stay off the boos

The one England player who was not able to turn out for his club on Sunday was Sam Tomkins, with residual stiffness denying him the chance to respond on the field to the abuse he received from a minority of Headingley spectators during the Exiles game. That was as depressing as it was predictable, showing that for a fair proportion of British rugby league fans, club comes well before country.

The England captain Jamie Peacock responded with admirable bluntness, expressing his disgust at any Leeds supporters who had joined in the booing. Unlike them, Peacock is bright enough to appreciate that the success of the national team is far more important to rugby league's future prosperity than parochial club rivalry, and that Tomkins will be a key figure if England are to achieve anything significant against the odds over the next couple of years.

Without the try-saving tackles he produced on Rangi Chase and his Wigan team-mate Pat Richards, the Exiles could have been out of sight by half-time, although McNamara has still to find a way of utilising his attacking ability as Wigan do in the Super League – there were times on Friday night when England would surely have benefited from thrusting him forward to stand-off.

Hopefully the uncomfortable experience will stiffen Tomkins' resolve to prove himself at international level, rather than driving him more quickly either to Australia or to rugby union.

4) Four seasons in three days

In the absence of a national anthem for the Exiles, the Crowded House back catalogue seemed an obvious place to look for a team song, given the Finn brothers' trans-Tasman roots. Locked Out, or Something So Strong, seemed to have potential, but neither were deemed suitable by McClennan and his management team. However the driving rain that fell throughout Saints' 14-all draw at Odsal, and at Sunday's other five Super League fixtures, was a reminder that even in June, you'll always take the weather with you.

The Exiles fixture was played in much more pleasant conditions, but the game itself was a reminder that representative rugby league is better suited to the winter. Maybe it was the clash with a Twenty20 thriller between Lancashire and Yorkshire at Old Trafford, but it just felt more like a night for cricket than for a grinding war of attrition.

Many of the most memorable State of Origin games in Australia, which the Exiles concept was designed to replicate, have been contested in the wet of a Brisbane or Sydney winter. It's probably just as well that Sunday was so miserable, as I was well down the road of dreaming of a return to winter rugby, with a late August kick-off, derbies over Christmas as well as Easter, Lions tours in the summer, and overseas players joining British clubs over their close season.

There's no chance of that happening for the foreseeable future, with the amateur game now well on the way to switching to summer, and the new television contract certain to be based on the existing February to October domestic season. So Sunday's soaking was probably well-timed.

5) Radio days

Another benefit of the mid-June deluge was to give rugby league some rare exposure on national radio, with the postponement of the tennis final at Queen's forcing 5 live to switch to live commentary from Castleford v Wigan. It felt quite nostalgic in the press room at Odsal as journalists and photographers huddled around the radio – well, the digital TV which was tuned to 5 live – to listen to Dave Woods and Dave Hadfield describing the Tigers' dramatic fightback, and occasionally crossing to Alastair Yeomans, who was watching an equally surprising and engrossing climax at Belle Vue.

The surprise results caused at least in part by the distorting effects of the Exiles match – hats off to Salford as well as Wakey and Cas, and could I urge anyone who was at any of those three games to post a bit of flavour below – have given a mid-season pep to the Super League season, and what a pleasant change it made to have the best six fixtures of the weekend all played on a Sunday.

It also sets up next weekend's programme beautifully: Saints v Wigan on Friday, when Salford also face Castleford and Leeds travel to Wrexham to take on the Crusaders; another dangerous game for Huddersfield at home to the in-form Catalan Dragons on Saturday night, preceded by an equally unpredictable fixture between Harlequins and Wakefield at The Stoop; and then Warrington aiming to bounce back at Hull KR on Sunday afternoon, when Bradford will face Hull at Odsal in a game crucial to the play-off aspirations of each club.

There were only a couple of jarring notes on the 5 live coverage – the references that the various commentators were obliged to make to Wakefield Trinity's unnecessary second suffix of Wildcats, and the ridiculously renamed Yorkshire grounds of the Probiz Coliseum (Wheldon Road), and the Rapid Solicitors Stadium (Belle Vue).

6) Any other business

There is no tidy way to link all the other matters arising this week, so we'll have to group them in an eclectic sixth tackle.

Next, play rugby league and see the world. Last weekend the Barla Young Lions beat the Serbia Under-21s in Belgrade, and John Fieldhouse's open-age team won the first game of their trip to Western Australia. Again it would be great to hear more details below from anyone on the ground, either in Serbia or Perth – where do the latter stand with their hopes of joining an expanded NRL from 2015?

Finally, a quick word for the biggest game of the women's season, with Bradford Thunderbirds playing the Warrington Ladies at Clayton on Wednesday night. The Cheshire set need to win to clinch their first Premier Division title, whereas the Thunderbirds will be aiming to keep the trophy in Yorkshire, albeit a win for them would give the title to their old local rivals to the east, the Wakefield club now known as Featherstone Rovers Ladies.